BackBJP ties up with AJSU in Jharkhand
AJSU given eight seats in 81-member assembly to contest in Jharkhand
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New Delhi: Weeks before the first phase of polling in Jharkhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has joined forces with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) to counter the three-party alliance of the Congress party in the state.
As part of the alliance, the AJSU has been given eight seats in the 81-member assembly to contest in the state. The remaining will be contested by the BJP, which has so far named 63 candidates.
“AJSU leaders Sudesh Mahto and Chandra Prakash Chaudhary met BJP president Amit Shah and an alliance has been formed. The alliance will get two-third majority in the state," said Bhupendra Yadav, who is in charge of the BJP’s election team in Jharkhand.
The BJP won 12 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand in the general election, which translates to 51 out of the 81 assembly seats.
Even so, the BJP continues to talk to other smaller regional parties to join the alliance in a state where it is confronting a three-party coalition—the Congress, Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led by chief minister Hemant Soren broke its alliance with the Congress recently and decided to contest the elections alone.
Interestingly, BJP has decided that it will not name a chief ministerial candidate for both the Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will lead it into the polls.
“We are in the process of finalising the public meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We expect that he will campaign extensively for the party and BJP will be able to provide a stable and clean government to the people of Jharkhand," Yadav added.
The BJP is planning to contest the elections in the two states on the plank of providing development and good governance. Senior BJP leaders say that Jharkhand has suffered because the state hasn’t had a stable government. In Jammu and Kashmir, too, the party will contest state elections on the promise of economic development.
“The BJP has already issued 45 seats in Jammu and Kashmir and the party has given 15 tickets to Muslims, mainly in Kashmir valley. BJP doesn’t differentiate between people on the basis of caste and religion. It is the right of everyone in the country to get development and good governance..," said a senior BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.
Political analysts say the BJP is joining hands with smaller regional parties because it gives the party greater acceptance in the states.
“By joining hands with smaller parties, BJP has done well in Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra elections. This move will also change the image of BJP which is traditionally considered to be a party of upper caste," said AK Verma, a Kanpur-based political analyst.
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